I started to think that having the cut tabs on the envelope might be a bit too impractical for the person who receives the envelope, so I focused more on the idea of a leaflet/information sheet inside so it wouldn't get damaged as easily as it would if it was the inside of the envelope. This also gave me the chance to be more creative as I can scale it the way I like instead of sticking to the dimensions of the envelope.
The idea is to create a sort of poster/leaflet with all the information on, that's easy to read and not too cluttered. This ruled out having more than one piece of paper to go inside the envelope. I want it all in one place where it's all easy to read and won't be missed on a piece of paper that might be left inside the envelope. The main concept is to have easy to read information
that got the point across simply and shortly, so there won't be any
interest lost or it be too overwhelming for the reader. In the end I decided on A4 as this is the typical size to go in the envelope and would be the easiest and simplest way to create the leaflet.
Twitter is about speech, so the idea of a Twitter bird and a speech bubble is one that I wanted on going through the leaflet and envelope. Because Twitter is informal and fun, I wanted to keep with that sort of approach, so instead of the standard shaped speech bubbles I drew out some more abstract shapes to use, so they fit around the three birds and fit on the page without looking too cluttered or random.
The one thing I had not done in this project is create a sort of logo that can be placed on this and the envelope, and even the three posters. I wanted to keep it simple and easy to read so I took the 'Futura' font and created an arrangement of circles over the top. I then cut these out from the letter and had two versions, the block colour version and the outline version.
After a few variations I decided upon the logo below, while block with a dark blue outline slightly out of place.
On the leaflet I placed this in the gap that was there:
I thought that this one it's own was perhaps a little boring and plain, so considered what could be done to make it more interesting. Blue isn't necessarily the most eye-catching colour so I knew I had to do something to make it a bit more memorable and standout. I took the text and created a watermark style over the whole background of the image. I think it really makes the three speech bubbles stand out and makes the leaflet as a whole, a more visually interesting piece.
Once visually happy with the front of the leaflet, I looked at the back. I wanted to keep it simple and like a poster that could be kept. A simple layout with only a couple of elements so it didn't detract from the information that would be on the front of the sheet.
Variations:
I wanted to keep consistency with the front page so changed the background colour to a lighter opacity so it would match. It created a much calmer and balanced image in my opinion, and the layered letters stand out much more on this background colour than they did on the on the bolder one.
The main problem I found with this is that the lettering seemed too harsh almost so I went back and looked at the logo I had designed. I then made the decision to change the font used, changing it to the font used by Twitter themselves - this also makes it very clear exactly what the subject matter is.
I replaced the previous one on the leaflet with this one, and found it seemed to sit much better and make the elements balance a lot more with the smooth lowercase lettering instead of the harsh and straight uppercase font used.
Now that I have the general designs sorted I thought about the information I wanted to put on, and what it was exactly that I wanted to communicate to the reader. I thought it was important to keep my main original statement: '140 characters is the new #communication', as I feel this is what brings all the research and ideas into one simple statement.
The most important bit of this leaflet is the information, and for this, I need a typeface which sticks with the playfulness of Twitter, but is readable at the same time. As a Twitter post is someones personal message, I looked at handwritten typefaces to use as it would keep it within that sort of area.
From the fonts above, I put them into context to see how they fit in with the leaflet and layout of the whole thing.
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| Chosen one - Shadows Into Light |
Looking back at the research I originally conducted, I took a couple of the most important facts and made them the basis of this leaflet:
I placed the twitter bird in the top right hand corner of the back sheet so that when it is folded, that will be right there and the first thing seen. It also makes it very clear what the subject of the letter is about because of how well known it is.
Throughout the design process I had the leaflet created by four curve-edged rectangles to keep it a little more playful and informal - these would also be the points where I folded it to go inside the leaflet. However when it came to printing out and actually folding, the cut out areas were significantly smaller than they looked on the computer screen, and did not look right at all.
So because of this, I went back to the designs an took out the spaces making it into one sheet with nothing cut out or anything. I then went with the typical three-fold to fit perfectly into the envelope.
